Michael
Vogg was born in Wurttemberg, Germany about 1800. His wife’s name may have
been Frederica.

It is something of a
logical deduction to place Michael Vogg and his wife here as the father of
John Frederick Vogg and his siblings. I do not have definite proof of it.
However, historical records show that a Michael Vogg with his wife and
family arrived at Indianola, Texas in 1845 aboard the ship Sarah Ann and on
the 1900 census, their son, John Frederick Vogg, states that he arrived in
this country in 1845. Also, on the 1850 census, we find John Frederick Vogg
living in a household with two younger men who appear to be his brothers.
One of them is named Michael. It is, therefore, logical to assume that the
three boys, and possibly a sister, Margarete, arrived in Texas with their
parents.

As did the Duffy
family, the Voggs arrived in this country as part of the Verein Society. About
1842, twenty-one German princes recognized the need to reduce the
overpopulation in Germany and to that end, they organized the "Mainzer
Adelsverein," later known as the "Society For The Protection of German
Immigrants In Texas.” The princes, led by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels
(left with German Immigrants) purchased the 4,000 square mile Miller-Fisher
land grant in Tom Green County in west Texas and a coastal site, where they
founded the port of Indianola. However, when the first immigrants arrived
there, they discovered that preparations in Indianola were for ships and
shipboard supplies only. Indianola was an
open and undeveloped marshland with no buildings, no tents, no food and no
supplies. A survivor of the succeeding 'death march' wrote an account,
published in Galveston Weekly News of 12 November 1877:

"....When Baron von Meusebach returned to the coast, he found that ships
carrying 6,000 immigrants had unloaded at Indianola,
for whose reception and transportation not the slightest preparation had
been made. With no other shelter, these unfortunate victims lived in holes
they had dug in the ground, without roofs and drinking water, except that
which fell from heaven. Meusebach had contracted with teamsters to take the
immigrants inland to New Braunfels.
Instead, the teamsters ran away to earn more money working for the U. S.
Army (this was during the beginning of the Mexican War). Their principal
food was fish and wild ducks, because none of them brought guns capable of
killing larger game. For weeks, the rains came, and for miles around, the
marsh prairies were covered with knee-deep water. Immigrants suffered first
from malarial fever, and later, from a flux or dysentery, which resembled
cholera and began thinning their ranks. Hundreds of corpses were buried (in
shallow graves), only to be dug up by the wolves, and their bones were left
dotting the prairie..."

"Finally, the trails became passable, and those who were able to started for
New Braunfels
on foot, leaving behind them not only their weather-beaten household goods,
but also their sick relatives. The route from Indianola to New
Braunfels was strewn with the bones of those immigrants. The writer recalls
coming upon a large, loaded wagon, stuck in the mud. The bones of the oxen
were still there, under the (ox) yoke, as were those of the driver and his
family, scattered about on all sides of the wagon. Of the 6,000 immigrants
who reached Indianola in 1845, no more than 1,500 ever reached New
Braunfels, and more than 50% had died miserable deaths from starvation and
disease. Upon reacing New Braunfels, the writer wrote back to Prussia,
suggesting that the proud German eagle be removed from the
"Adelsverein's" coat of arms, and be replaced with a Texas buzzard...."

Ten years later, in 1855 and 1856, a Michael
Vogg sold land patent certificates for land in Tom Green and Coke counties
to a John Francis Smith as did Frederick Vogg. However, neither the elder
Michael Vogg nor his wife are listed anywhere in the state of Texas on the
1850 census. Therefore, it is my belief that Michael and his wife died in
Indianola and that their sons, Michael and Frederick, later sold the land
that their parents should have received. There is no evidence that any Vogg
ever lived on the patented land. Additionally, the small town of German
Settlement on the Matagorda Peninsula was established by a colony of
immigrants who had first immigrated to Indianola.After
disease took many of their number, a small group of survivors moved to the
Matagorda Peninsula. I believe this group included Fredrick and his
siblings after the death of their parents.

Children of Michael
Vogg and Frederica were:

1. John Frederick Vogg
was born 29 Jun 1824 in Gochsen, Wurttemberg, Germany and died 20 Jul 1901
in Matagorda, Texas. He is the subject of the next generation.

2. Frederica Margarete
Vogg was born in 1825 in Wurttemberg, Germany. I do not have definite proof
that Frederica Margarete is a member of the family. However, her marriage
to William Frederick Scott on 14 Mar 1846 in Matagorda, Texas is part of the
public record. Her age and the date and place of her marriage make it quite
probable that she was a member of the family as there is no record of any
other Vogg family in the area. The 1850 census shows William and Margaret
Scott living in Liberty, Texas with two children, William and Margaret. The
elder William is listed as a sailor who was born at sea.

3. Michael Vogg was born
in 1833 in Wurttemberg, Germany. I have been unable to find any other
information about him other than the mention on the 1850 census and the land
sale in 1855.

4. Charles Vogg was born
in 1836 in Wurttemberg, Germany. He became a U.S. citizen in 1850 and is
listed on the 1860 census as living in Brazora County, Texas with the Letts
family and working as a sailor. On 26 Jul 1860, he joined Company D of the
6th Texas Infantry and served as a Corporal during the Civil War.